Wow! eBook
Sweets from Morocco Fict Edition
Author(s): Jo Verity (Author)
- Publisher: Honno Welsh Women's Press
- Publication Date: 8 Jan. 2009
- Edition: Fict
- Language: English
- Print length: 485 pages
- ISBN-10: 1906784000
- ISBN-13: 9781906784003
Book Description
It’s 1954. Tessa and Lewis Swinburne are a bit miffed by the imminent appearance of a baby brother or sister… When their mother brings baby Gordon home, the newcomer wreaks more havoc than they could have imagined and disrupts their perfect childhood. They decide that something must be done, so secretly they construct an effigy and transport it away from the house, and across the forbidden highway to the phone box around the corner. They don t wish Gordon dead, just gone. To their astonishment ‘go’ he does from his pram parked outside the paper shop when their father pops in for a paper. In the space of minutes the family s lives are turned upside down and all the children s futures marred. Will Lewis and Tessa live to regret their actions? Forty years on the ripples on the Swinburnes family pond are still in evidence.
”my soul gave a little leap when Sweets of Morocco’s turn came around because I loved picking it up every single time. Jo Verity already has the Richard & Judy Short Story Award on her mantlepiece and if she is writing novels like this perhaps she should keep some more mantlepiece space free, my thanks to Jo, Sweets From Morocco has been a cracking good read.”
dovegreyreader
”A richly detailed and absorbing narrative journey in the company of two completely believable and believably complicated characters.”
Andrew Cowan
”A wonderfully wise portrayal of intriguingly troubled lives.”
Suzannah Dunn
”A vivid portrayal of a family scarred by loss.”
Louise Wener
”Verity’s fiction is intelligent, well-observed, and immensely readable.”
Catherine Merriman
”Sweets from Morocco is a highly readable and sophisticated example of storytelling.”
Louise Walsh
Editorial Reviews
Review
“A richly detailed and absorbing narrative journey in the company of two completely believable – and believably complicated – characters.” Andrew Cowan, Award winning author of the Betty Trask Award and the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award. “Verity’s fiction is intelligent, well-observed, and immensely readable.” Catherine Merriman, winner of the Ruth Hadden Memorial Award and twice winner Rhys Davies short story award. “A wonderfully wise portrayal of intriguingly troubled lives” Suzannah Dunn, acclaimed author of ‘The Sixth Wife’ “A vivid portrayal of a family scarred by loss, bound by the enduring strength of sibling ties.” Louise Wener, former singer with the 90’s band Sleeper , novelist and columnist. “A highly readable and sophisticated example of storytelling.” Louise Walsh, author of Fighting Pretty a ripping yarn and pitch perfect evocation of childhood and sibling relationships. Marcel Theroux, Daily Telegraph A bittersweet story of sibling love – with loyalty, rivalry and dependence a close relationship that sometimes excludes all others From the Richard and Judy short story award winning author of Everything in the Garden and Bells, also published by Honno Will appeal to the readers of Joanna Trollope and Joanne Harris Jo Verity is an Arvon Foundation ‘graduate’ and will tutor in 2009. Sweets from Morocco follows the lives of the fictional siblings Tessa and Lewis from childhood and the tragic disappearance of their new baby brother Gordon, through to old age when, united by the secret they have kept for so many years, they end up living together, excluded from the rest of the world. While it is not in any way a reflection of her relationship with Nick, the heart of the book the closeness that can exist between a brother and sister was sparked off by a moment they shared. We were at a funeral and something funny was said, I cant remember what it was now and he was across the room and he looked up and I looked up and there was a total understanding between us. And I thought, isnt that funny? But of course we had known each other longer than anyone else, both our parents were dead. I thought, how often does that relationship get explored, the brother-sister relationship, without incest? Theres plenty with two sisters or two brothers but not brother and sister. I thought, lets start with that but instead of the brother being the feisty, awkward one, make the girl that one, and the boy the stay at home, loving, caring one. Thats not really us. I knew that they were going to be 10 and nine when it started and 60-something when it ended, with the two of them living together because they had fallen out with everyone else, but I didnt know how that would happen. I thought, I need something to get them that close, to keep them together, and I thought a secret would be perfect. It starts very much like my life: Clarks shoes and Spam and granny with a wrap-around apron. But then the baby comes and thats where it departs. Sweets from Morocco is Jos third novel, Bells having followed Everything in the Garden. But writing came late to Jo who, now 65, first appeared on the scene in 2003 when she won the Richard & Judy Write Here, Write Now short story competition. In fact, until she reached her fifties, she had what she calls a really nice low-key life. Born in Newport in 1944 to war parents who waited until they were sure Hitler wasnt going to be running the UK before they had children, Jo was a bright girl who loved art and drawing and wanted to study at art college when she left school. Her parents werent too keen though they thought she was capable of going to university and shouldnt waste the opportunity so she compromised and went to University College London to study architecture. It wasnt, she eventually realised, her kind of thing at all too sciencey, she says but the three-year course wasnt entirely wasted. It was while she was there that she met Jim Griffiths, and fell in love. So, after marrying young and having two children by the time she was in her mid-20s, Jo found that a career simply wasnt on the cards. Feminism kind of passed me by, Im ashamed to say, she says. I was having such a nice time I didnt feel the need to struggle. had no driving ambition to do anything. I think if I had had that, I would have done it. But I fell in love with my own children. I just didnt trust anyone else to look after them. Im not at all a domesticated person but I just loved being at home with my children. And so life continued, with the family moving back from London to Cardiff in 1974, and though she did begin doing some freelance graphic design work from home, and later got a job at the School of Dentistry, University Hospital of Wales, as a medical graphic artist, Jo says: The non-work part of my life has always been more important to me than the work part. Then, on March 1, 1999, all that changed. That was when I found out what I wanted to be when I grew up, says Jo, which was a good thing because I was 54! The real story starts a few years earlier, though, when she was 49. Fed up with watching students go off on gap years each summer, InterRailing around Europe, Jo decided to take a trip of her own. At the time you could get a ticket for a flat rate as a student and you could travel as much as you wanted around Europe on that for a month. Then I found out that grown-ups could do this but they only got a fortnight. I asked Jim whether he wanted to come but he said, Why would I want to spend two weeks on a train, living out of a backpack, not knowing where Im going to sleep each night?” So I asked my friends and they were all very enthusiastic and wanted to come but their husbands wouldnt let them I thought, You want to be worried about that so I decided I would go on my own. I dont think anyone thought I would actually go. The two-week trip took her to Italy, Austria and the Czech Republic, and it was in Prague that she met a mad American named Ruth. She was a Jewish Zen Buddhist sculptress she was hedging her bets I think! She wasnt averse to going to Quaker meetings either. Together the two women travelled around the city, sleeping in the spare rooms of local people and generally having a blast. When the trip ended, they kept in touch and even visited each other in the US and in Wales. Five years later, the two decided to take another week-long trip to Europe together. Knowing that Ruth was a bit flaky, Jo decided not to book her ticket until the last minute, a wise move as the American called at the 11th hour to say she was not able to make it after all. Jo was left with a weeks leave and nothing to do with it. I thought, Oh Ill just go back to work but Jim said why not have the week off anyway? she says. We had just acquired our first computer, so he said, Why dont you learn to use it? Maybe you could write a short story or something and find out how the computer works. After five days I thought, This is it, this is what I want to do. I loved it. It took her five months to complete that first short story, but Jo was to learn that patience is key when you are trying to make it as an unknown writer. Her first break came when Radio Four approached the publishing company where Jos daughter Hannah worked, looking for short stories to read as part of their new writers week. That was when Jo Griffiths, as she was, decided to use a pen name. Hannah, not wanting to submit a manuscript with the same surname as her own, asked her mum to come up with a different one. Forced to think on the spot, she used her middle name, and Jo Verity was born. Hannah submitted five manuscripts in total. Only Jos was selected by the panel at Radio Four. That was the moment when I thought, I can do this, Jo says. I felt that was quite good; it was a good measure of the story. I was so excited when it was on, I couldnt hear it! It was the weirdest experience. It was a man reading it and it didnt sound anything like I imagined it. The story was about an old man in hospital and my dad had been in hospital so I had always imagined it with a Welsh twang but this actor had a bit of a gruff South-East accent, a London accent. The next step on her literary journey came when she was home with food poisoning one day and watching a rare hour of morning television. I was lying there slowly dying on the sofa and the Richard & Judy show was on and I heard: This is the last chance you have to enter the Richard & Judy Short Story Competition. They had a dustbin full of manuscripts but something told me to do it. I dont believe in that sort of thing but something told me to get off my sickbed and post it off. Whatever it was, it was good that she listened. Despite receiving 17,000 entries the judges, who included novelists Martina Cole and Tony Parsons, were impressed with Jos entry and shortlisted it to the final 15. The day she appeared on the show to hear the final results, Jo was suffering from a winter vomiting bug This story started and ended with illness! she laughs and had no thoughts of winning. All I wanted was one of them to say they liked the story. I hadnt even thought about the prize. It was a plastic trophy, and the chance to be published in The Independent. Thinking back, that was a crap deal! The winners names were sealed in envelopes and the 15 nervous writers waited with bated breath as Richard Madeley read the top three in reverse order and made one of his regular spectacular gaffes. He opened the second envelope and said, In second place, Jo Verity! and Judy said, No, no, youve got it wrong! I thought, if my names in an envelope and its not third and its not second it must be first! Today, six years and three novels later, Jo is thoroughly enjoying her late blooming career as a writer, and has discovered a new confidence through it. Im a Scorpio and apparently Im deep, devious and ambitious, she says. I always thought my mother had lied about when I was born because I could never see that. But I see it more now. I have become a lot more confident and assertive, things I wasnt before because I couldnt find what I was grounded in. But she doesnt regret finding her calling later in life than she might have done. I still feel like Im 19 in my head. Im quite surprised when I see myself; its quite a shock, she laughs. Do I regret not starting earlier? No. What would I have written about when I was 20? What would I know about when I was 20? How could I write about having children or growing old? Now that shes begun writing though, she has no intention of stopping any time soon. Im still writing for me, she says. I thought, if this stops Im still going to go on writing. So what drives her forward, if it isnt winning competitions or becoming famous or making her fortune? I just like storytelling, she says. What motivates me is telling stories, and telling stories I like to hear. And that moment when you find out someone else wants to hear it. If someone said you can have 1,000 and one person read your book or 1 and 1,000 people read your book, Id take the pound. — Honno
Jo Veritys third novel is a great big slab of a book, but dont let that fool you into thinking itll last you a good few days or more. Of course, its possible to put the book down, but I found it hard to do so for any longer than it takes to make a cup of tea, and its a while since Ive been that engrossed in a novel. Ten-year-old Tessa and her nine-year-old brother Lewis have a new baby brother, Gordon. They hate the infant with jealous vengeance and determine to get rid of him by doing a magic spell. When Gordon disappears soon afterwards, they are convinced their voodoo on him has worked and that they are responsible for the ensuing tragedy that envelopes the family. Haunted by guilt and forever bound by their secret, the siblings become ever more enmeshed in a complex co-dependency whose intensity threatens their attempts to build meaningful lives and relationships for themselves. Like a pair of magnets, the more they polarise, the more powerfully they are drawn together, with likeable, introverted Lewis constantly coming to the rescue as Tessa acts out her sense of shame in increasingly self-destructive behaviour. The story, which spans the years from 1954 to 2005, is utterly enthralling and the characters and events in their lives never fail to convince. Verity has the poets touch for language and imagery and her observation of detail, whether physical or psychological, is exquisite. Suzy Ceulan Hughes It is possible to use this review for promotional purposes, but the following acknowledgment should be included: A review from www.gwales.com, with the permission of the Welsh Books Council. Gellir defnyddio’r adolygiad hwn at bwrpas hybu, ond gofynnir i chi gynnwys y gydnabyddiaeth ganlynol: Adolygiad oddi ar www.gwales.com, trwy ganiatd Cyngor Llyfrau Cymru. — Welsh Books Council
About the Author
Jo Verity has won many competitions including the Richard and Judy Short Story Prize 2003. She has been a judge at several literary competitions, appeared at literary festivals, had numerous short stories published in women’s magazines and broadcast on BBC Radio 4, and is an Arvon Foundation tutor.
